Daily Yap, Okay these days it's usually weekly yap!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

For years now I swear to ride more, exercise more and for years I fail to do either. Youth no longer on my side I've seem my avg weight grow by 12lbs over the last two years.

Now longer do I dip to 190lbs in the summer, now avg. about 204.

I thought if I try to eat well, all will be fine, but in my case this tends not to be true. Don't get me wrong, I'm not health nut, but I do pride myself of not eating "fast-foods" and I base my diet on drinking lots of water (read little to no juice or soda), and eat plenty of fresh fruits and veggies. Anyhow, you get my point.

So the realization has been setting in for some time now, but this weekend was a massive blow to my ego(for lack of better word). The wife and I headed to Douthat this weekend. Normally, we tend to visit DSP 3-4x a year, but last year was an off year, so this visit was our first in 2yrs.

Returning to Douthat 20lbs heavier & on a singlespeed (my other bike broken) all my weaknesses showed through brightly! What was once a strong pair of legs burned in a minute, what was once a fair cardio base took no less than 2hrs to settle in, and still I was barely moving.

After only 1.5mls I was so frustrated that I actually considered letting my bike roll down the steep slopes of Mountain SIde by itself and walking back. I felt unworthy and more to the point, completely over mountain biking.

My patient wife was so kind that it gave strength enough to at least keep going. Each time we came to an intersection and thought about heading back, I pushed on to the longer route.

By days end, we rode about 15mls in about 3.5hrs, this should have easily been a 2.5 (or @ least under 3hr) ride under normal riding days of yesteryear.

Now that I found even a little resolve this weekend, will be able to follow through from here on out. My bday is mid-year, I hope to have shed those 20lbs...

Monday, February 22, 2010

Today was Sid's 2 week follow up and the doc was not just pleased, but astounded by her progress. He said that she is well beyond his expectations for any dog, let alone for her being 9 1/2 & that she's at a point more indicative of a dog that is closer to 4 or 5 weeks post-op.

So we are to continue with what we've been doing during the 1st 2 weeks and beginning week 4, start her rehab with 3-4 walks per day @ 10-15 minutes per walk.

How is she walking? Bruising? Pain? etc?Sid is walking well and it's becoming harder and harder to tell that she even has an injury. Bruising and discoloration is all gone, well until they removed the stitches today. Pain, there must be a little since she still favors her leg when standing idle, but nothing like pre-op where she was constantly searching (a term used to describe an animal lifting a leg and trying to put it down, but kind of just hovers the foot instead).

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Today is day 6 for Sid's post surgery and we're very happy to say that she's doing really well.

She's been off of pain and tranqs for 2 days now and not showing any worst for wear. In fact, she's doing quite well on her leg.

She is showing signs of slight discomfort when initially standing up and when she stretches, but we're really trying to curtail her movement anyhow.

She has been almost 100% e-collarless for about 3 days, only making her where it when we are not around. When given the chance though, she seems to have little to no interest in her stitches.

As far as the incision area, the stitches have always been clean and free from oozing, etc. The area affected by the surgery has also been and remains pretty normal in appearance. I guess I was expecting more swelling, more soreness, and more redness, but the area seems to have transitioned very well. Bruising lasted about 1.5 days, and same for the swelling caused by the bodies reaction to the metal plate.

Our larger challenge with Sid is reminding ourselves that as she appears to be moving around more normal, that she is far from out of the woods it terms of recovery. We're only towards the end of week 1 of an minimum 8 week recovery.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Sleep was little again, as Sid is using less meds she is becoming increasingly more aware of the crate and e-collar. Despite me sleeping on the floor w/her, she was upset and refused to sleep with the e-collar. She'd get quiet for a few minutes about every 30 min. or so throughout the night, but would not stay put and rest. At 3am, I simply couldn't take it anymore.

Since she's been very good about not licking, I finally removed the e-collar and she was curled up in a ball and asleep w/in a minute of removal.

This morning was a tough fight feeding Sid any of her pills, even the chewable that she normally takes w/o issue.Even the peanut butter isn't working now...

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Well, Sid did well overnight recovery wise, but was not happy about the crate even w/Lisa sleeping in the room. Lisa said she finally went to sleep around 3am.

Day 3 morning Notes: ~ Sid is doing well enough that we're only giving her the anti-inflam. and antibiotics and will wait to the 12hr mark for her pain meds. ~ Sid is starting to show signs of bruising on the inner thigh, but her stitches are still looking fine and clean.~ Sid actually used her leg to scratch her ear, albeit gingerly.

Afternoon: Sid's leg is looking good. Swelling is still much less than I was expecting, bruising is just starting to set in to the leg.SId has been wanting to be active, but sitting with her seems to keep her happy enough to keep her still.

Evening: Sid is doing well and standing more than we want. I really want to keep her off tranqs as much as possible, but not at the risk of injuring her leg. If we can't get her to lay more, we'll have to use meds.

Sid really hates the taste of the pain killers and it's being more and more difficult to get her to take the pill.